The Xabi Alonso era at Chelsea moves into its next phase on Tuesday as the Blues take on Western Sydney Wanderers at the 83,500-capacity Accor Stadium.
It is the opening match of the 2026 Sydney Super Cup and the first of five games on Chelsea’s marathon pre-season tour, which continues with a London derby against Tottenham on Saturday before further stops in Hong Kong, Indonesia and Malaysia.
Chelsea finished a disappointing 10th in the Premier League last season, a campaign that saw three different managers take charge, including Calum McFarlane on two separate occasions. Alonso arrived this summer with a clear remit to restore stability and has already been backed with the signings of Morgan Rogers, Marco Palestra, Geovany Quenda and Emmanuel Emegha.
Rogers will not be involved in Australia, however, with the England international given extra downtime after helping his country to third place at the World Cup before he begins work at Cobham.
Alonso said: “For sure, it’s a great signing. In that position we needed an important player and I’m sure there were not many better options than Morgan Rogers. You need players who can have that almost instant impact and I’m sure Morgan won’t need much time to adapt to the club, the system and his team-mates.”
The Spaniard has a plan to get the best out of Rogers alongside close friend Cole Palmer once the pair are eventually reunited, even if that project will have to wait for now.
Wanderers finished last in the 2025/26 A-League season having accrued just 21 points. Alen Stajcic was sacked in January with Ufuk Talay now in charge.
Talay’s team beat Tigers FC last week in the round of 32 in the Australian Cup.
Team News for Western Sydney Wanderers v Chelsea
Chelsea will be without Rogers, Malo Gusto, Pedro Neto, Trevoh Chalobah, Reece James and Enzo Fernández, none of whom have travelled.
Estêvão and Jamie Gittens should start but Quenda and Emegha have stayed in London to deal with minor knocks.
Palmer and João Pedro, both left out of their countries’ World Cup squads, are expected to be heavily involved.
Western Sydney Wanderers will select from their full A-League squad although Talay is likely to make changes as the game goes on.
Expected line-ups for Western Sydney Wanderers v Chelsea
WSW: Vidackovic; Madanha, Ferreyra, Pantazopoulos, Gersbach; Scicluna, Thurgate; Di Pizio, Hammond, Gillion; Borrello
Chelsea: Sanchez; Hato, Colwill, Anselmino, Palestra; Lavia, Walsh; Gittens, Palmer, Estevao; Joao Pedro
How to watch Western Sydney Wanderers v Chelsea: TV and online streams
Western Sydney Wanderers versus Chelsea kicks off on Tuesday at 7.45pm local time in Sydney, which is 10.45am UK time.
The match is not being shown on UK television but can be streamed worldwide via Chelsea’s own CFC+ service. It is also available on Paramount+ in Australia, DAZN in Japan, VG+ in Norway and Claro Sports across Central and South America.
Stats for Western Sydney Wanderers v Chelsea
- This is Chelsea’s first match in Australia in more than a decade
- The fixture is the opening game of the 2026 Sydney Super Cup, which also features Tottenham Hotspur, Sydney FC and Juventus’ women’s side among others
- Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League last season under three different permanent and caretaker managers
- Accor Stadium has a capacity of 83,500, making it one of the largest venues in the Southern Hemisphere
Prediction for Western Sydney Wanderers v Chelsea
Although it’s an early run-out for Chelsea and they will be lacking fitness, they come up against poor opposition in Western Sydney.
Class will tell here.
Prediction: Western Sydney Wanderers 0-4 Chelsea
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